The Queen's Official Birthday (King's Official Birthday in the reign of a male monarch) is the selected day on which the birthday of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms (currently QueenElizabeth II) is officially celebrated in those countries. The date varies as adopted by each Commonwealth country, but is generally around the end of May to the start of June, to coincide with a high probability of fine weather in the Northern Hemisphere for outdoor ceremonies.

The sovereign's birthday was first officially marked in the United Kingdom in 1748. Since then, the date of the king or queen's birthday has been determined throughout the British Empire and later the Commonwealth according to either different royal proclamations issued by the sovereign or governor or by statute laws passed by the local parliament. The exact date of the celebration today varies from country to country and, except by coincidence, does not fall on the day of the monarch's actual birthday, that of the present monarch being 21 April.[1] In some cases, it is an official public holiday, sometimes coinciding with the celebration of other events. Most Commonwealth realms release a Birthday Honours List at this time.

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Except in the state of Western Australia, Australia observes the Queen's Birthday on the second Monday in June. Because Western Australia celebrates Western Australia Day (formerly known as Foundation Day) on the first Monday in June, the Governor of Western Australia each year proclaims the day on which the state will observe the Queen's Birthday, based on school terms and the Perth Royal Show.[2] There is no firm rule to determine this date before it is proclaimed, though it is usually the last Monday of September or the first Monday of October. In 2012, Queensland celebrated the holiday in October, as the June holiday was reserved to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee as Queen of Australia, after which the holiday has reverted to its traditional date in line with the other eastern Australian states.[3]

The day has been celebrated since 1788, when GovernorArthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark the birthday of the King of Great Britain. Until 1936, it was held on the actual birthday of the monarch, but, after the death of George V, it was decided to keep the date on the second Monday in June.[4]

The Queen's Birthday weekend and Empire Day (24 May) were the traditional times for public fireworks displays in Australia. The sale of fireworks to the public was banned in various states through the 1980s and by the Australian Capital Territory on 24 August 2009. Tasmania is the only state and the Northern Territory the only territory to still sell fireworks to the public.[5] The Queen's Birthday Honours List, in which new members of the Order of Australia and other Australian honours are named, is released on the date of the Queen's Birthday in most states.

A bread ticket granting the holder one loaf in celebration of the Queen's birthday

A royal proclamation issued on 31 January 1957 established the last Monday before 25 May as the Sovereign's Birthday (in French: fête du souverain[6]), the date on which the reigning Canadian monarch's official birthday would be celebrated. The monarch's birthday had been observed in Canada since 1845, when the parliament of the Province of Canada passed a statute to officially recognize Queen Victoria's birthday, 24 May.[7] Over the ensuing decades after Victoria's death in 1901 (at which time the Monday before 25 May became known by law as Victoria Day[7]), the official date in Canada of the reigning sovereign's birthday changed through various royal proclamations: for Edward VII it continued by yearly proclamation to be observed on 24 May, but was 3 June for George V and 23 June for Edward VIII (their actual birthdays).

Edward VIII abdicated the Canadian throne on 11 December 1936, three days before the birthday of his brother, the new king of Canada, George VI. The King expressed to his ministers his wish that his birthday not be publicly celebrated, in light of the recent circumstances. But, the Prime Minister at the time, William Lyon Mackenzie King, the rest of Cabinet, and Governor Generalthe Lord Tweedsmuir felt otherwise, seeing such a celebration as a way to begin the reign on a positive note.[8] George VI's official birthday in Canada was thereafter marked on various days between 20 May and 14 June.

The first official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II was the last to be celebrated in June; the haphazard format was abandoned in 1952, when the Governor-General-in-Council moved Empire Day and an amendment to the law moved Victoria Day both to the Monday before 25 May,[7][9] and the monarch's official birthday in Canada was by regular vice-regal proclamations made to fall on this same date every year between 1953 and 1957, when the link was made permanent.[7][10] The two holidays are in law entirely distinct except for being appointed to be observed on the same day. The Queen's official birthday is marked by the firing of an artillery salute in the national and provincial capitals and the flying of the Royal Union Flag on buildings belonging to the federal Crown, if there is a second pole available.

The Queen's Birthday was celebrated in Fiji on 12 June until 2012, when the military government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama announced the holiday would be abolished.[15] The holiday had continued to be observed until then despite Fiji being a republic since 1987, following a second military coup d'état.

In New Zealand, the holiday is the first Monday in June. Celebrations are mainly official, including the Queen's Birthday Honours list and military ceremonies.[16] There have been proposals, with some political support,[17][18] to replace the holiday with Matariki (Māori New Year) as an official holiday. The idea of renaming the Queen's birthday weekend to Hillary weekend, after Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to ascend Mount Everest, was raised in 2009.[19]

It has been celebrated in the United Kingdom since 1748. There, the Queen's Official Birthday is now celebrated on the first, second, or third Saturday in June,[20] although it is rarely the third. Edward VII, who reigned from 1901 to 1910, and whose birthday was on 9 November, in autumn, after 1908[21] moved the ceremony to summer in the hope of good weather.[20] In 2013, it was celebrated on 15 June,[22] and was on 14 June in 2014.[23]

The day is marked in London by the ceremony of Trooping the Colour, which is also known as the Queen's Birthday Parade. The list of Birthday Honours is also announced at the time of the Official Birthday celebrations. In British diplomatic missions, the day is treated as the National Day of the United Kingdom. Although it is not celebrated as a specific public holiday in the UK (as it is not a working day), some civil servants are given a "privilege day" at this time of year, which is often merged with the Spring Bank Holiday (last Monday in May) to create a long weekend, which was partly created to celebrate the monarch's birthday.[citation needed]

^ ab"The Queen's birthdays". royal.gov.uk, the Official Website of the British Monarchy. Retrieved 1 July 2011. The current Queen Elizabeth II celebrates two birthdays each year: her actual birthday on 21 April and her official birthday on a Saturday in June.

^The Times 9 November 1908 published the King's Birthday Honours list, apparently the first occasion of such awards. The lists were subsequently published on the monarch's official birthday in June